Limp Lions overcome gritty Griquas

MATCH REPORT: The Lions retained their winning start to the Currie Cup with a 25-13 win over a gritty Griquas team at an empty Ellis Park on Friday.

In front of a threadbare crowd of what appeared no more than a few hundred, the Lions outscored the visitors by three tries to two in a sloppy display.

The win was based on 10 points scored while Griquas were down to 13 men – locks Athenkosi Khetani and Derik Pretorius were yellow-carded for cynical fouls.

Griquas dominated possession (59 percent) and territory (55 percent).

The Lions’ set pieces, despite a couple of scrum penalties, while the visitors were down two tight forwards, were not up to standard – their scrums and line-outs barely function at 80 percent success rate.

Of further concern will be the 17 penalties, 25 missed tackles (85 percent tackle success) and eight turnovers lost.

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It was a scrappy start – with a litany of errors and poor discipline by both sides.

The Lions eventually broke the deadlock when inside centre Rynhardt Jonker burst over, following a great attack from a line-out turnover. Flyhalf Sam Francis was wide of the mark with his conversion attempt – 5-0.

Scrumhalf Nico Steyn was next to score – a quick tap from a penalty five metres out, which caught the Griquas defence napping. This time Francis was on target with the conversion – 12-0 at the end of the first quarter.

It did not help Griquas’ cause when they lost lock Albert Liebenberg to injury at the same time as the Lions’ second try.

The quality of the game did not improve and the game went into a dour stop-start affair.

Just past the half-hour mark flyhalf Lubabalo Dobela opened Griquas’ account with a penalty – 3-12.

That was followed by flank Carl Els scoring Griquas’ first try – centre Sango Xamlashe opening up the Lions’ defence and Else barging over from five metres out. Dobela was wide of the mark with the conversion – 8-12.

The Lions started their second-half scoring with a Francis penalty – 15-8, in the 44th minute.

Griquas responded with a try by replacement Zinedine Robinson, on debut. Dobela was again wide of the mark with the conversion – 13-15.

A scrum penalty saw Dobela push his attempt wide from right in front.

That was followed by a yellow card against Griquas lock Athenkosi Khetani for a cynical foul, when killed the ball at the tackle after a linebreak.

Replacement lock Derik Pretorius followed his Griquas teammate Derik Pretorius to the sin bin, after illegally collapsing a maul on his line – also resulting in a penalty try, 22-13

Another penalty for offside allowed Francis to stretch the lead to 25-13.

That’s how it stayed to the end, despite a spirited showing by the visitors in the last 10 minutes.

The scorers

For the Lions
Tries: Jonker, Steyn, penalty try
Cons: Francis, a penalty try does not require a conversion
Pens: Francis 2

For Griquas
Tries: Xamlashe, Robinson
Pen: Dobela

Yellow cards: Athenkosi Khetani (Griquas, 59 – cynical foul, killing the ball at the tackle), Derik Pretorius (Griquas, 62 – cynical foul, illegally collapsing a maul on the tryline)

Teams:

Lions: 15 Gianni Lombard, 14 Sibahle Maxwane, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Kelly Mpeku, 10 Sam Francis, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Ruhan Straeuli, 7 Sibabalo Qoma, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Raynard Roets, 3 RF Schoeman, 2 Jaco Visagie (captain), 1 Morgan Naudé.
Replacements: 16 Morné Brandon, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 Conrad van Vuuren, 19 Luca Ribbens, 20 Renzo du Plessis, 21 Layton Horn, 22 Zander du Plessis, 23 Bronson Mills.

Griquas: 15 Cameron Hufke, 14 Marcqiewn Titus, 13 Sango Xamlashe, 12 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 11 Sako Makata, 10 Lubabalo Dobela, 9 Thomas Bursey, 8 Hanru Sirgel (captain), 7 Marco de Witt, 6 Carl Els, 5 Albert Liebenberg, 4 Athenkosi Khetani, 3 Janu Botha, 2 Janco Uys, 1 Leon Lyons.
Replacements: 16 Gustav du Rand, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Cebo Dlamini, 19 Dylan Sjoblom, 20 Derik Pretorius, 21 Stephan Smit, 22 Bobby Alexander, 23 Zinedine Robinson.

Referee: Griffin Colby
Assistant referees: Local
TMO: Christie du Preez

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